Glossary

Access

The opportunity to enter somewhere or engage with something without barriers. Barriers come in many forms and may be physical, sensory, intellectual, attitudinal, social, cultural or financial.

Accountability

Organisations accepting responsibility for their actions and behaviour. Being accountable to communities, audiences and stakeholders means taking into account their needs, concerns and capacities, and explaining actions and decisions to them. Information about accountability for collections can be found on the Collections Trust’s website.

Anti-ableist

Recognises abled privilege and actively looks to challenge and dismantle it through actions and practices.

Anti-discriminatory

Be opposed to the unjust and prejudicial treatment of people based on age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, or socio-economic status. Actively identify and dismantle policies and practices that uphold discrimination.

Anti-racist

Actively identify and dismantle policies, practices, behaviours, conventions, unchallenged norms, and beliefs that perpetuate institutional and systemic racism against racialised people of colour.

Audience

Individuals and groups who make use of the museum’s resources or facilities.

Collection

A body of cultural and/or heritage material. Collections may be physical, intangible or digital.

Collections development policy

A policy document which shapes a museum’s collections by guiding acquisition and disposal and is led by the museum’s statement of purpose.

Dealing

Making a speculative acquisition with the intention of reselling for profit.

Decolonisation in museums

A long-term process that seeks to recognise the integral role of empire in museums – from their creation to the present day. Decolonisation requires a reappraisal of our organisations and their history and an effort to address colonial structures and approaches to all areas of museum work. The MA decolonisation guidance provides further information about what decolonisation in museums means and looks like in practice.

Disposal

The formal decision by a governing body to remove items from its accessioned collection (‘deaccessioning’) and manage the removal of those items through an agreed method. The MA guidance, Off the Shelf: A Toolkit for Ethical Transfer, Reuse and Disposal, provides further information and ethical advice.

Due diligence

Ensuring that all reasonable measures are taken to establish the facts before deciding a course of action, particularly in identifying the source and history of an item offered for acquisition or use before acquiring it, in repatriation or restitution proposals, or in understanding the full background of a sponsor, lender or funder.

Governing body

The principal body of individuals in which rests the ultimate responsibility for policy and decisions affecting the governance and operations of the museum. Legal title to the assets of the museum may be vested in this body.

Inequitable power structures (in relation to legacies of colonialism and empire)

There is an unequal distribution of power that exists in museums caused by the legacy of Britain’s colonial past. White people enjoy a structural advantage and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not, both at an organisational and an individual level.

Item

A physical, non-tangible or digital object or material held by a museum.

Partner organisation

An organisation with which a museum has built up a formal relationship relating to museum activities or funding.

Public

All individuals, groups and communities who are not part of the museum's internal workforce but who interact with, are served by, or are impacted by the museum and its activities. This includes visitors, audiences, community members, stakeholders and society at large. The term reflects the broad responsibility museums have to serve diverse interests and maintain public trust.

Restitution

The process of returning cultural material to its original owners, although the process can encompass more than this. Details are set out more clearly in the Arts Council England guidance on Restitution and Repatriation and the Museums Association’s Supporting Decolonisation in Museums guidance.

Repatriation

The process of returning cultural material to its place of origin, although the process can encompass more than this. Details are set out more clearly in the Arts Council England guidance on Restitution and Repatriation and the Museums Association’s Supporting Decolonisation in Museums guidance.

Source community

A group which identifies themselves as a community and would normally be expected to have a shared geographical location, shared cultural or spiritual and religious beliefs and shared language; or to share some of these facets; and which is recognised as the cultural source of items held in a museum collection.

Transparent

Acting with an attitude of openness and honesty about the ideas, processes and actions of the museum. Enable audiences to access and engage with information.

Workforce

A term that describes those who formally contribute to the operations and activities of an organisation. The workforce includes paid staff, volunteers, trustees, freelancers and consultants.

Positive workplace

An environment free from discrimination, bullying and excessive demands where everyone has space to thrive, grow and contribute, and where wellbeing is prioritised, regardless of role, status and background.